POTENTIAL • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Potential

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/pətˈɛnʃəl/ /pətˈɛntʃəl/ Listen

adjective

Potential adj.

1.

Being potent; endowed with energy adequate to a result; efficacious; influential. (Obs.) "And hath in his effect a voice potential."

2.

Existing in possibility, not in actuality. "A potential hero." "Potential existence means merely that the thing may be at ome time; actual existence, that it now is."

Potential cautery. See under Cautery.

Potential energy. (Mech.) See the Note under Energy.

Potential mood, or Potential mode (Gram.), that form of the verb which is used to express possibility, liberty, power, will, obligation, or necessity, by the use of may, can, must, might, could, would, or should; as, I may go; he can write.

noun

Potential n.

1.

Anything that may be possible; a possibility; potentially.

2.

(Math.) In the theory of gravitation, or of other forces acting in space, a function of the rectangular coordinates which determine the position of a point, such that its differential coefficients with respect to the coordinates are equal to the components of the force at the point considered; also called potential function, or force function. It is called also Newtonian potential when the force is directed to a fixed center and is inversely as the square of the distance from the center.

3.

(Elec.) The energy of an electrical charge measured by its power to do work; hence, the degree of electrification as referred to some standard, as that of the earth; electro-motive force.

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Etymology of 'Potential'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Potential" Quotes from Famous Books

... Household of his own; and finally a Wife, as he had requested: a Sachsen-Gotha Princess; who, peerless Wilhelmma being unattainable, was welcome to Prince Fred. She is in the family-way, this summer 1737, a very young lady still; result thought to be due—When? Result being potential Heir to the British Nation, there ought to have been good calculation of the time when! But apparently nobody had well turned his attention that way. Or if Fred and Spouse had, as is presumable, Fred had given no notice to ...

— History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. X. (of XXI.) - Frederick The Great--At Reinsberg--1736-1740 • Thomas Carlyle

... in Sofia, no less than in Vienna and Budapest. The Young Turkish revolution of July 1908, and the triumph of the Committee of Union and Progress, disarmed the critics of Turkey who wished to make the forcible introduction of reforms a pretext for their interference; but the potential rejuvenation of the Ottoman Empire which it foreshadowed indicated the desirability of rapid and decisive action. In September, after fomenting a strike on the Oriental Railway in eastern Roumelia ...

— The Balkans - A History Of Bulgaria--Serbia--Greece--Rumania--Turkey • Nevill Forbes, Arnold J. Toynbee, D. Mitrany, D.G. Hogarth

... exaltation all the world seemed to him full of light. He found a new element of something lovable in the persons whom he had most disliked; and Montanelli, who for five years had been his ideal hero, was now in his eyes surrounded with an additional halo, as a potential prophet of the new faith. He listened with passionate eagerness to the Padre's sermons, trying to find in them some trace of inner kinship with the republican ideal; and pored over the Gospels, rejoicing in the democratic tendencies ...

— The Gadfly • E. L. Voynich

... heeding this potential ceremony, Ruth remained leaning against the doorway, looking upon the night, the bulk of whose profundity and blackness seemed to be gathered below him. The vault above was serene and tranquil, with a few large far-spaced stars; the abyss beneath, untroubled by sight or sound. ...

— The Twins of Table Mountain and Other Stories • Bret Harte

... Conscription ought to be called the Bureau of Exemption. It is turning out a vast number of exempts. The Southern Express Company bring sugar, partridges, turkeys, etc. to the potential functionaries, and their employees are exempted during the time they may remain in the employment of the ...

— A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital • John Beauchamp Jones

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